Overview

As you are aware, life is full of relationships. We consistently interact with individuals who may need to guide us, provide advice, or provide services. Some people achieve success in their field because they possess personality traits that align in ways that work for them and others. Understanding how a person in a certain profession may display personality traits (e.g., the doctor you choose to deliver your baby, the mechanic who changes your brakes, or the teacher you learn from) can help you achieve your goals as you move forward in life.

Looking for traits in people is a practice that, in conjunction with what you have already learned about personality, will allow you to better understand people and how people interact in the world. It also opens your mind to personality traits and qualities you may have been previously unaware of, or even misinformed about, but now understand. This can help with day-to-day interpersonal interactions in the world. It could also help with preconceived notions, which may have hindered or separated us from others. Learning and understanding all levels of personality will only help us interact while being different.

For this assignment, you will consider different professions and the role that personality traits might have on professionals in that field. These are the types of relationships between professions, professionals, personality traits, and potential stress in the workplace that you will be exploring in this assignment. An example, using the role of a lawyer, has been provided for each criterion in the prompt below. This milestone prepares you for Project Two, due in Module Seven.

Professions:

• Doctor
• Nurse
• Mental health professional
• Teacher
• Customer service representative
• Political figure
• Business owner
• Police officer

Prompt

To begin your milestone, you will first select one of the professions from the list provided. Next, use your Project Two Milestone Template Word Document to address each of the following rubric criteria in about 3 to 5 sentences:

1. Personality and the Individual
   
   1. Identify one trait from the Big Five (openness, also known as intellect/imagination; conscientiousness; extraversion; agreeableness; or neuroticism, also known as emotional stability) that you think is particularly important for your selected profession and justify your response.
      • For example, it may be important for a lawyer to possess the trait of conscientiousness. Reliability and diligence seem to be an important part of the job. Being disorganized and impulsive might not serve a lawyer’s clients well.
   2. Describe whether it would be most ideal for your selected professional to be low, high, or mixed for the Big Five trait you identified for most situations and justify your response.
      • For example, it may be important for a lawyer to score low on neuroticism (high on emotional stability) since they need to listen and think things through. It seems best if negative affect does not interfere with their ability to present a case. However, there are times when lawyers can be seen as emotional and even aggressive.
   3. Explain whether you think the effectiveness of the Big Five trait you selected depends on the situation. To justify your response, provide a real or imagined example where the trait would benefit the professional and an example where the same trait would not benefit the professional.
      • For example, maybe openness would be important when a lawyer searches for evidence in favor of the client, but the appearance of openness to new ideas might not be as important while advocating for the client in court.
2. Personality and Teams
   1. Identify another trait from the Big Five for your selected profession and describe how scoring low, high, or mixed on that trait might influence how that professional conducts their work or interacts with others.
      • For example, it may be important for a lawyer to score average to low on agreeableness. They need to be able to present an opposing view and fight for their clients, but they also must be able to cooperate and work with others within the court system.
   2. Explain whether you think it is better to have a diversity of traits within the same profession or among professionals with the same role or whether it is better for the professionals to exhibit the same traits. Justify your response.
      • For example, some lawyers are extroverted and some are introverted. Regardless of how they fall on this trait dimension, they can likely perform their job well. Also, some lawyers are less agreeable than others. Depending on the case, having a choice in the type of lawyer selected can be helpful to meet client needs.
3. Personality, Stress, and Coping
   1. Describe how you would expect your selected professional to cope with stress using a trait you identified previously or a new trait of your choosing.
      • For example, a lawyer would likely cope better with stress if they score lower on the neuroticism trait dimension. This means they would be more emotionally stable and less impulsive.
   2. Explain what kind of support you would expect from a person in this profession if you were seeking help or advice. Consider how much emotional intelligence you might expect your selected professional to display.
      • For example, a lawyer would likely be open to hearing a client’s story and seeing it from their perspective. The lawyer would likely want to help the client and offer sound legal advice and a clear plan of action. To be able to advocate for a client, a lawyer would need to be able to step into the client’s shoes and also use legal training and knowledge to leverage the best chance for success.

Guidelines for Submission

Submit your completed Project Two Milestone Template. If you cite external resources, you must use APA citation style.